Shoemaking



Oct. 22 1946. A, H BEL 2,409,860

' SHOEMAKING Filed Kay 18, 1945 2 sheets she'et 1 R. A. HUEBEL snomuumm Filed lay 1a; 1945 2' sheets sheet 2 Patented Oct. 22, 1946 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,409,860

SHOEMAKING Richard A. Huebel, Ahington; Mass. Application May 18, 1945, Serial No". 594,381

This invention consists in a novel process of making platform shoes of highstyle with comfort features. The process of my invention results in the productionof shoes having this unusual combination of characteristics: viz., the stylish lines of a shoe designed primarily for style and the cushion features of a shoe designed primarily for comfort. My invention includes within its scope the novel shoe construction herein shown as produced by my novel shoemaking process.

The platform type of shoe as usually constructed, and if it is to have any ofthe lines characteristic of fine shoemaking, requires precision work in the preparation of the platform; that is to say the platform must be cut accurately as a stock-fitting operation 50 that it will conform to the contour of the last when placed on the bottom of the lasted shoe. There has been heretofore no opportunity for trimming the platform on the shoe and if the platform isnot exactly the proper shape for the particular shoe in which it is incorporated or if the platform is not placed with absolute accuracy, very objectionable defects in shoemaking occur. Moreover, platform shoes as heretofore manufactured have necessitated the operation of covering the platform with a binding strip. This operation is one not heretofore known in manufacturing shoes of standard types and so has been somewhat troublesome on that account.

The process of my invention is characterized by the employment of a platform which may be secured to the bottom of a lasted shoe and then trimmed and edge-set in the same manner that a solid sole is treated in the standard processes of shoemaking, that is to say, the platform is trimmed in exact conformity to the contour of the fore part of the particular shoe in which it is incorporated and then the trimmed edge stained, set, and otherwise finished with the machinery and in accordance with thefamiliar practice of standard shoemaking. Having attached, trimmed and finished the platform as above explained, I next remove from it a portion to form a window of substantial area and in this step I remove also a segment of the ball edge of the platform which has been hitherto intact. The window thus provided and the space in the ball edge of the platform is now filled by a cushion padiwhich extends over the break at the ball of the shoe and somewhat into the shank.

v important feature of my invention consists in a window so shaped in the platform as to pro- Vicle a landor solid area at the toe end of the 4 Claims. (01. 12 142) platform, suiiicient to support the toe joints of the wearer's foot. This makes the shoe comfortable by providinga cushion under the ball of the foot, while providing a solid foundation under the toe joints, thus relieving them of the resilient pressure of the cushion. v

Another important characteristic of my process is that the ball end of the platform is solid and intact during the steps of attaching, trimming, and edge-setting the platform. It is only after these steps have been completed that the ball edge of the platform is severed and a segment removed. Itwill be seen that by this procedure the manufacturer has the benefit of a solid sole-piece for the operations which might otherwise distort a skeleton sole-piece. After the solid sole-piece has been permanently attached and incorporated in the shoe bottom and after thetrimining and set operation the ball edge of the platform is severed, this being a stage of the process after which there is no tendency to distort the platform.

These and other features and characteristics of my invention will be best understood and appreciated from the following description of a preferred manner of practicing the process of my invention asillustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a View in perspective of the platform blank at the conclusion of the cementing and randing operations;

Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the window defined therein;

' Fig, 3 is a view in perspective showing the platform attached to the fore-part of a shoe and suggesting the trimmin operation;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view suggesting the edge-setting operation;

Fig. 5 is a view in perspective of the fore-part of a shoe suggesting the step of removing the portion forming the window from the platform;

Figlffi; is a similar view, showing the window removed; p

Figl '11s a similar view showing the cushion in place; and

Fig; 8 is a fragmentary view in longitudinal section of the fore-Dart of the shoe. 7

Incarrying out the process of my invention, a platform blank is died or rounded out from any suitable sole material, such as leather, neolite, 'Vinylitefl or other material capable of being trimmed and edge finished, The platform blank may be 3' to 8 irons inf thickness according to the thickness of the platform desired in the finish'edshoe. 'IhoPeration of preparing the plat- A marginal band [2' of cement is then applied to both surfaces of the blankand when this is dried the blank is randed about its curved margin thus removing the cement in a narrow zone adjacent to the edge and preparing the edge [3 p U of the platform for edge trimming.

The next step of the process consists in par- I tially outlining a window 15 in the body of the platform while leaving its skived ball edge intact. I

This may be done by cutting or dieing out the line M shown in Fig. 2 either by hand or by locating the blank under a. die of the appropriate" shape. The cut or died-out line l4 terminates short of the ball edgeof the platform'and in the fore part of the platform leaves an extensive land ors olid portion In, thisbeing s'ufiicient in extent to support the toe joints of the foot of the wearer as suggested in Fig. 8. The platform is shown in Fig, 2 in this condition; that is to say the stock-fitting operations have been completed upon it and it is ready to be incorporated in the shoe bottom. v The next'step of the process consists in attaching the platform blank to the-bottom of a lasted shoe, as suggested by Fig. 3 in which the platform" is shown as cemented'to the fore part of the shoelit with its'skived ball edge conformed tothe longitudinal curvature of the shank of the shoe. The platform may be attached by cementing or by stitching but, as herein shown, the attaching operation may be convenientlycarried out by merely dampenin the'cementing band 12 on the lower side of the platform andthen subjecting it to pressure in a sole-laying machine of the usual type. As soon as the platform has been attached and the cement set, the platform may be edge-trimmed in the usual manner as by ,a rotary cutter ll, shown in Fig. 3. It will be understood that the edge-trimming operation conforms the outline of the sole exactly to the contour of the shoe to which it is attached and imparts the desired edge contour to the' platform, in this case a convex curvature. The edge of' the platform may be now stained or colored in any manner'desired by the manufacturerand edge set, for example, by an oscillatingheated edge setting iron 18, as suggested in Fig. 4.

These steps are all carried out on the platform while in substantially solid condition; that is to say, the window [5 is outlined in' the platform but has not been removed, while the ball edge portion on the platform'rem'ains intact.

The next step in the process consists in removing the portion to form the window l5, this step being suggested iii-Fig.5 where" a knife 19 is shown as being employed to extend the lines of 'the cut l4 through the ball edge of the platform and for prying the severed portionl5 out of the shoe bottom. Fig. 6 shows the window as completely formed, exposing within its contour 'the'lasted edge of the upper and the insole 20 on the forward end of the shank stiffener Zl It 'willbe noted that the land in constitutes an integral tie between the 'sides'of the platform throughout the area of its toe portion, while the now severed rear ends of the platform conform accurately to the curve of theshank. The'land it also presents a 'solid support beneath the wearers toes and prevents them from being pressed upwardly against the toe box by the resiliency of the pad.

The cushion element of the shoe is now sup plied by cementing a sheet 22 of sponge rubber or other resilient cushion material to the platform in position to cover the opening formed by the removal of the window l5 and to extend rearwardly into the curved portionof. the shank of the shoe. The shoeis completed by cementing er otherwise incorporating an outsole 23 in the shoe bottom, this being cemented to the face of the platform and to the land it in the manner usually practiced in making cemented or Compo shoes. In this final operation, the cushion 22 is forced into the opening formed by the window I5.

I have found it particularly important to ex tend the cushion 22 over the ball line of the shoe and somewhat into the. shank. This not only provides a comfortable cushion where it is appreciated by the wearer but improves the general lines of the shank'fiom the standpoint of style. In general it may be observed that the process herein described involves the usualand conventional stock-fitting operations upon a flat blank of solid leather or the like, the trimming and edge setting of a substantially solid sole-piece in the shoe bottom, and then the removal of the inte-' rior of the platform for the accommodation-of the cushion only after the platform has been permanently and securely incorporated in the shoe bottom so that it is no longer subject to strains which might otherwise distort it.

scribed a preferred manner of practicing it, -I

claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent: I

1. The shoemaking process which includes the steps of cutting out a platform blank to fit the fore-part of a shoe, defining a window in the blank while leaving its shank edge intact, attaching the blankto the bottom of a lasted shoe, trim: -ming and setting the edge of the platform in conformity to the contour of the shoe, removin the defined portion from the platform-to form a window and at the same time removing a segment of its ball edge, and then cementing" a cushion over the window, filling the space thus provided in its ball edge.

2. The shoemaking process which includes the steps of cutting out a platform blanktdfitthe fore-part of a shoe, attaching the blankfin substantially solid condition to the bottom of a lasted shoe, trimming and settingthe edge of the' platform in conformity to the contour of the shoe, removing a portion from the platform to form a window therein, leaving a solid, land between the sides of the platform in advance of thetip line, placing a cushion in the opening left by the re-,

moval of the window and covering the cushion portion of the blank and removing the defined portion to formsaid window, substituting cushion material for' the portions of the platform which have been removed, and covering the plate form and cushion material with an outsole.

4. The shoemaking process which includes the 6 to form a window from the platform and at the same time cutting through the rear edge of the platform blank, and then filling the window and the space in the rear edge of the platform blank 5 with cushioning material.

RICHARD A. HUEBEL. 

